EU anti-fraud body investigation targets alleged fake victims of domestic abuse in Romania

Several women from the Romanian town of Santana, Arad county, are believed to have benefited from European funds through a program destined to women who were abused by their husbands, although they were not never in such a situation. Inspectors of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) have started an investigation in this case, local News.ro reported. They requested and received an office in the Santana City Hall so that they can start questioning several women suspected of having benefited from this EU-funded program carried out in 2015-2016. Dozens of women were enrolled in the program, falsely declaring that their husbands had abused them. Among them, employees of Santana City Hall and their relatives. Local prosecutors previously investigated a similar case in Romania, in Macea commune, where several women also falsely declared that they had been victims of domestic abuse. The local National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) opened last year an investigation that targets Liviu Dragnea, the leader of the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), following an investigation carried out by OLAF in 2015 and 2016. The case is connected to the illegal use of EU funds by the Teleorman County Council during the period when Dragnea was its president. EU anti-fraud body: EUR 21 million need to be recovered in Romanian party leader case Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com